What is the true economic impact of air traffic control (ATC) strikes in Europe? Following the allegations expressed by airlines about the consequences resulting of ATC strikes the European Air Traffic Controllers European Unions Coordination (ATCEUC) and the European Transport Workers' Federation (ETF) have unveiled today at a press conference in Brussels the real data behind the causes and consequences of flight delays. Our research based on official EUROCONTROL data has namely exposed that airlines themselves are by far the largest cause of delays and account for more than 50 percent of all delays in air traffic.

The right to workers' representation and collective action are enshrined in the founding Treaties of the European Union, while these Treaties stipulate that the EU has no competence on the right of strike which remains fully in the remit of individual Member States. In addition, international evidence shows that free and independent trade unions make a net positive contribution to productivity, competitiveness as well as safety. While we don't deny that industrial action has consequences on the traffic, we reiterate that it belongs to the fundamental rights of workers.

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This year we, as Europeans, will celebrate 60 years of the greatest and most successful peace accord in the world. 60 years ago, the Treaty of Rome was signed laying its foundations, and those of the world’s biggest international single market. The economic integration of 1958 then received its proper political dimension through the Treaty of Maastricht in 1992.
In his opening statement to the European Parliament in 2014, Jean-Claude Juncker reinforced the commitment to a social market economy. Furthermore, the Aviation Strategy in Europe of December 2015, includes the need to reinforce the social agenda and create high quality jobs in aviation.
We, as the aviation professionals, who physically bring the countries of Europe together strive not only for the highest standards of safety for those in our care, but to embody the European project in our everyday work.

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Today the European Transport Workers' Federation (ETF), gathering over 270,000 workers across the whole aviation industry, presented its 10 key priorities for the revision of the “Basic Regulation" which sets the framework and competences of the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) to the key decision-makers from the European Commission, the European Parliament (EP) and the Agency itself.

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​At the recent summit of the lobby association Airlines for Europe (A4E), Civil Air Navigation Services Organisation (CANSO) signed up to the A4E ‘Call for Action’ which aims among other things at limiting the right to strike in air traffic management. ATCEUC and ETF deplore the support for A4E’s approach since both organisations are of the opinion it is not for Air Navigation Service Providers (ANSPs) to join an attack from airspace users on their own staff. Therefore, ATCEUC and ETF consider the content of the press statement following this event as a dangerous step in the wrong direction for the future of European ATM. ATCEUC and ETF also recall that the right to strike is enshrined in the EU Treaties.

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Today, unmanned aircraft are being used among other things for aerial filming and photographing, safety inspections of pipelines or buildings or by farmers. Tests are being performed for delivery of goods or even transport of passengers.
The Aviation Strategy for Europe presented by the Commission in December 2015 states: "unmanned aircraft share the same airspace with other aircraft [and therefore] the safety of their operations must remain coherent with the overall aviation safety policy. Finally, unmanned aircraft operations must also be consistent with air traffic rules as laid down in the Common Rules of the Air."
Due to the rapid development of RPAS, the ETF strongly supports the inclusion of RPAS into the scope of the EASA Basic Regulation, as well as other regulatory initiatives aiming to ensure a safe co-existence of manned aircraft and RPAS in line with the principle "one sky – one safety".

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We would like to remember the victims of this latest air disaster that has hit the entire world aviation community and send our thoughts to the families and to all those who have been affected by this terrible loss.

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On 30th of November in Berlin, the ATM Committe have unanimously elected the new chairteam and we would like to congratulate them on their election.

This election is the result of a helpful and considerate cooperation that Charles-Andrè Quesnel,Aaron Curtis and Daniel Liebhart provided until now.

Today is the beginning of a new path that we hope will lead them to guide our Committee as their predecessors have done so far.
We are well aware that the challenges that lie ahead, related to all the still open dossiers on which we have been committed for years, will be very challenging and this is why we wish them all the best for their new post and best wishes for a good job.

We would also like to thank the resigned Vice-chair Luigi D'Iddio for all his work and dedication to our Committee in the last years.

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ETF together with ATCEUC, today published a press release in response to the attack from Airlines 4 Europe (A4E) on the right to strike for ATM workers. A4E have been particularly vocal over the last few months, heavily criticising ATM personnel who strike to defend their rights. ETF maintain that the right to strike is protected by European treaty and is a matter for national law. Furthermore A4E have published a study based on inaccurate data, vastly inflating the impact of strikes, and failing to recognise many other causes of delay to the public, which is mostly in their gift. ETF and ATCEUC have responded today with a joint statement, exposing the inaccuracies of this study, and the fact that the right to strike is enshrined in EU treaty. ETF firmly believe that the way to address strikes is to have proper social dialogue in line with the Toolbox that has been developed by the social partners. The statement is published below, please feel free to redistribute at national level.

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The ETF has joined other stakeholders from manned aviation in the call for a robust harmonized EU-wide regulatory safety framework for drones. The signatories also expressed their serious concern about the safety of manned aircraft in controlled and uncontrolled airspace.

At the same time, the ETF expects that all the safety and security aspects of drone operations will be addressed in the current revision of the EASA Basic Regulation.

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On 8 - 9 September 2016, the ATM social partners met in Bratislava for the final conference of their joint social dialogue project. Besides members of ATCEUC, ETF and CANSO, the audience included experts, representatives of professional organisations and other stakeholders.

Welcome and keynote speeches were delivered by the Slovak Director General for Civil Aviation, the CEO of the Slovak Air Navigation Services providers and the European Commission.
In the context of fundamental changes that European air traffic management is undergoing, the three social partners (SP) confirmed the need for a genuine and effective social dialogue that will help deliver the solutions understood and embraced by workers and management alike. They jointly presented the Toolbox For Successful Social Dialogue in ATM that they produced. They noted the support of the European Commission for it.

The participants had the opportunity to exchange on a number of important topics, such as just culture and occurrence reporting, new technologies and automation, task safety impact assessment and ATCO licensing. All of these topics were discussed in the context of social dialogue and staff involvement.

At the end of the conference, the social partners adopted a joint statement summing up the results of the project and reiterating their commitment to continue working together.